Indian Railways Plans to Build Four Biodiesel Production Plants

Indian Railways, Asia’s oldest network, plans to build four plants to produce biodiesel fuel, according to a government statement.

The first two will be completed by 2013 at a cost of 600 million rupees ($11 million), according to the statement late yesterday, which cited a written reply from Railway Minister K.H. Muniyappa to parliament.

The plants will have the capacity to produce 30 tons of fuel a day and will be set up at Tondiarpet in Tamil Nadu state and Raipur in Chhattisgarh state. The locations of the other two are being finalized, Muniyappa said.

The state carrier also plans to install solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines in the next three years, according to the statement, which didn’t provide further details.

To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai at npearson7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net